With most zombies, you don’t expect conversation.
“Why can’t you go back to playing princess?”
“I never played princess.”
“Are you kidding?” he says. “Whenever Heather’s mom took the two of you to the parade, you wore your fanciest dress, pretending to be the Winter Queen.”
“Exactly!” I say. “Queen, not princess. You raised me better than that.”
— Chapter 10

“It’s your heart. No one else gets a say in that.”
Sometimes it feels like it’s not even up to the person holding the heart.
— Chapter 18

’Tis officially the season! And yes, I am aware that we already had the second Sunday in Advent, but I just now started reading Christmas-sy titles and this book is applying for a place on the list of winter classics. And I must say that its chances aren’t too bad in that department. A wonderful romance that is not too cheesy and actually carries quite a few additional messages. I would have loved a little more elaboration on a few of the secondary characters but in this case I’d rate this in the positive column because they were so interesting even though they didn’t all get much page-time.
Fun fact: As this book has 24 chapter you can even attempt to read it as an Advent calendar ... but if you are anything like me you won’t be able to stop after one chapter each day.

Do you have a winter/pre-Christmas classic that you recommend and or read every year? Let’s hear from you in the comments! And in any case happy St. Nicholas Day!

With most zombies, you don’t expect conversation.
I figured King Mummy would say RARRRR! Or, at most, BRAINS! And then get down to the business of killing us.
I was not ready for “Thank you, mortals! I am in your debt!”
— Chapter 15

Seriously, I don’t know if there’s a Norse god of dreams, but if there is, I’m going to find his house and hack apart his Sleep Number mattress with a battle-ax..
— Chapter 25

I’ve seen Rick Riordan being called scribe of the gods and considering that he is able to write about a multitude of pantheons and tell compelling stories about them this seems like a worthy call sign. I especially love the humour in these books with witty and fun dialogues and narrations. Percy Jackson and friends reminded me of my passion for Greek and Roman mythology and I always smile about the little quirks when I discover a connection either between the individual books or to old myths often with a twist. Egypt also got its treatment and now we have the (in my case) lesser known Norse gods.
This is the second book of what currently looks like a trilogy. I maybe hope that there will be more although I wish Magnus a peaceful afterlife I also want to see him in more quests and epic arguments with his sword. Among other things.
I will admit that it is sort of hard to picture Loki as anyone else than Tom Hiddleston ... and don’t get me started on Thor. At the same time these and many other pop culture references are picked up and get wonderfully twisted as well. Yet I also think that because of their close relationship to current trends the books appeal to their readers at the precise moment of their publication (which is more than enough) but at the same time all these tiny references and extras will be hard to understand just a couple of years on.
Side note: The chapter titles of Rick Riordan’s books are some of the best ones ever – You Keep Using the Word Help. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means ... for example.

What are your thoughts on very up to date books? Love them for their close relation to current events/references or sceptic about their long term readability? Share your ideas and teasers in the comments.

My breath catches, responding to an unfamiliar pull in my chest, an ache in my soul. I shouldn’t miss him, but I do; this boy who had every right to pull that trigger, and instead threw himself between me and death.
— Chapter 17

Each mind unique, each thought created for an instant and then broken apart to form new ones. You don’t understand the unbearable beauty of being you.
— Chapter 36

With reality currently a little (okay, more a lot) reminiscent of a rampant dumpster fire it is time for some feel-good, harmless, calm space opera ... only this is not that book. You don’t even get to spend that much time in space. Unless you count a faraway planet as space, but really the space-time is at a bare minimum here. If Lilac from book one is every princess turned warrior dream come true then Jubilee is the bad ass fighter with a (very hard to get there but definitely present) soft core. And I have a predilection for guy called Flynn. Especially if there are (very very very distant in this case) Irish roots. The upside of these amazing series is that in the end people get what and whom they deserve ... but that’s also a downside, because damn all the good guys get paired off with truly awesome girls and you can’t even be mad. And no, I don’t care if I’m sometimes jealous of fictional characters’ relationships.
If for some reason you haven’t heard of this series or just haven’t had the chance to read the books, I will urge you to find the time and read all three (and the short story) in a row, because why not binge on something really good when you have the possibility?

What has been your latest binge read? Or are you one of these fabled readers who can pace themselves? Let’s hear from you in the comments!

So we didn’t stop calling each other – I stopped calling her. I didn’t know what to say to her anymore or what to do.
— Chapter 11

She had used the full “I love you” construction. Not even “love ya!” or “I totally love you!” – either of which might have meant she wasn’t serious.
— Chapter 14

For some odd reason whenever I recommend this book to someone I almost say keys instead of key ... but there clearly is just that one key and therefore I really shouldn’t have this problem. Maybe I’m projecting and want there to be more than one key. But who knows, the brain is a weird place and don’t get me started on the psyche. Anyway, an early book of one of my favourite authors. In fact, the very first (I think? I could be horribly mistaken). And also the very first I read and loved, which convinced me to keep reading whatever else she writes. Considering her Twitter output that’s a lot. I might have missed something there.
What I love most about Maureen’s writing is this wonderful mixture where one paragraph has you in stitches from laughing so much while the next can be a life and death race to the next tissue box. This is a book about grief, but also about family and love and perseverance. Yes, there are early book issues. I know that now, over ten years later, but I still love this book, even with its issues and I think that you shouldn’t blame a piece of its time for not being up to current standards. No one blames Homer for not giving Odysseus a Sat Nav to get home quicker either.

Are there books on which your perspective has changed over the course of time? Let me know about them and your teasers in the comments!

I went away in my head, into a book. That was where I went whenever real life was too hard or too inflexible.
— Chapter 6

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are things people are scared of. Some of them are things that look like things people used to be scared of a long time ago. Sometimes monsters are things people should be scared of, but they aren’t.
— Chapter 10

Some books get better every time you read them and this is most definitely a book that not only needs but deserves to be read multiple times. Neil Gaiman is one of my no questions asked buy authors and while I like all his writing I think that this is one of his most beautiful books. And it works at so many levels, too! The story itself is a little confusing at first glance, because the narration needs a little getting used to, but once you get into it and at the second read at the latest the different layers of the narration start to unfold. There are so many wonderful and true sentences in this book that I keep looking at my highlighted quotes and realise that there is actually a good portion of the book that is marked in some way.

Do you have a book that you can re-read regularly and still discover new things in it? Let’s hear from you in the comments!